Results 18,641-18,660 of 18,761 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Immigration Bill 2002: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (4 Feb 2003)

Michael McDowell: We have a mandate to enact laws only on foot of our position under the Constitution. The first canon of construction of any law promulgated by the President after being passed by these two Houses is that it should be construed in a constitutional way. Throughout the Constitution, from the preamble on, are values of reasonableness, constitutional justice and charity. The fundamental rule of...

Seanad: Immigration Bill 2002: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (4 Feb 2003)

Michael McDowell: Senators will recall that in our debate on Committee Stage, I gave an undertaking that I would bring forward a Report Stage amendment to make it clear that the withdrawal provisions provided for in section 6 of the Bill would not apply in circumstances where an applicant is found in breach of section 9(4)(b) of the Act of 1996. Paragraph (b) of subsection (4) of that section prohibits an...

Seanad: Immigration Bill 2002: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (4 Feb 2003)

Michael McDowell: Government amendments Nos. 14 and 21 arise from an indication I gave on Committee Stage that I would look at the time limit of ten working days, as set out in section 6 of the Bill. This ten day limit, in effect a fortnight, would arise in a case where the Refugee Applications Commissioner or the Refugee Appeals Tribunal, as the case may be, becomes aware that the applicant is no longer at...

Seanad: Immigration Bill 2002: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (4 Feb 2003)

Michael McDowell: The effect of the amendment would be to allow an appeal in all cases except where the person fails to provide an address within five working days, as provided for in section 6(b)(ii) of the Bill, which amends section 9 of the 1996 Act, or under subsection 14(b) of section 9 of the 1996 Act, where a person in detention indicates a wish to leave the State and his or her application is deemed...

Seanad: Immigration Bill 2002: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (4 Feb 2003)

Michael McDowell: I can understand the Senator's motives in moving this amendment, but I ask her to consider the practicability of the proposal. In section 6(g), the Bill amends section 19(2) of the Refugee Act, 1996, by removing the requirement to obtain the consent of the Minister prior to the publication – in a written publication available to the public – or broadcast of matters likely to lead members...

Seanad: Immigration Bill 2002: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (4 Feb 2003)

Michael McDowell: I am advised by the Attorney General's office that the tribunal has within its discretion the power to publish decisions with sufficient details obscured to preserve the anonymity of applicants if it so wishes. That would be the appropriate way in which to release this material. However, it is right for the tribunal to select the cases of sufficient significance to merit public awareness,...

Seanad: Immigration Bill 2002: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (4 Feb 2003)

Michael McDowell: I have made the point that the tribunal has that power already. Therefore, it is not necessary to provide it. To say the tribunal may make decisions available to the public is to state the obvious. Unless this is an appeal for publication to be done normally or as of course, the amendment proposes something which the tribunal can already do. The chairman of the tribunal could gather together...

Seanad: Immigration Bill 2002: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (4 Feb 2003)

Michael McDowell: The amendment proposes to remove the restriction on the right of appeal from a decision of the High Court to the Supreme Court in judicial review proceedings under section 5 of the Illegal Immigrants (Trafficking) Act 2000. Currently, under that Act, leave to appeal to the Supreme Court can only be granted where the High Court certifies that its decision involves a point of law of exceptional...

Seanad: Immigration Bill 2002: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (4 Feb 2003)

Michael McDowell: I thank Senators for their participation in the debate, for the time they invested in preparing amendments and considering the text of the Bill and all the useful amendments tabled, particularly those I was in a position to accept. I hope this legislation will improve the law. I sound one note of warning that I do not think Senators have seen the back of me in respect of this legislation...

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage (Resumed). (30 Jan 2003)

Michael McDowell: This amendment is opposed. The period within which to make an appeal against a recommendation under section 12 of the Refugee Act 1996 is currently ten working days from the sending of the notice of the recommendation. In the case of a negative recommendation on an application investigated under section 11 of the 1996 Act it is 15 working days from the date of the notice of the...

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage (Resumed). (30 Jan 2003)

Michael McDowell: The effect of this amendment would be to allow oral hearings to be conducted in public where the applicant so requested. Senators will be aware the Bill already contains an amendment to section 19(2) of the Refugee Act 1996 that removes the requirement for ministerial consent to publish or broadcast any matter likely to identify the person as an applicant. It will no longer be the case that...

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage (Resumed). (30 Jan 2003)

Michael McDowell: It is my understanding that the tribunal already has within its discretion the power to publish decisions, if it so wishes, with sufficient details obscured to preserve the anonymity of applicants. The effect of the amendment would be to require the tribunal to make available to the public copies of its decisions on appeals with identifying information deleted unless the applicant were to...

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage (Resumed). (30 Jan 2003)

Michael McDowell: These amendments are opposed because they are fundamentally at odds with the nature of the Dublin Convention as an instrument for determining which EU state – now including Iceland and Norway – is the proper one to examine a specific asylum claim. Before a person may be transferred under the convention, the commissioner is obliged to examine the relevant provisions of the convention,...

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage (Resumed). (30 Jan 2003)

Michael McDowell: Amendment No. 24 questions whether Dublin Convention cases would warrant an oral hearing. If there are matters that need to be explored more fully at appeal, the Refugee Appeals Tribunal, which deals with these appeals, may, under article 7.5 of the Dublin Convention Implementation Order 2000, direct the commissioner to make such inquiries and to provide it with such further information as it...

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage (Resumed). (30 Jan 2003)

Michael McDowell: These amendments make similar provisions in a number of significant respects regarding the Refugee Applications Commissioner and the chairperson of the Refugee Appeals Tribunal, respectively. Each has two purposes: they make provision for a situation where through some unforeseen circumstance the office holder is temporarily unable to carry out the functions of the office; and they set out to...

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage (Resumed). (30 Jan 2003)

Michael McDowell: I have substantially addressed the reasons for my opposition to the amendment to amendment No. 23. As I stated, the proposed paragraph 17 enables the chairperson to issue guidelines and guidance notes on aspects of the work of the tribunal. This will assist with the efficient functioning of the tribunal and will be an important aid to the work of the various members of the tribunal,...

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage (Resumed). (30 Jan 2003)

Michael McDowell: As the Senator will probably be aware, the Supreme Court, in the matter of Article 26 of the Constitution and the provisions of sections 5 and 10 of the Illegal Immigrants Trafficking Bill 1999, has examined in great detail the provisions of section 5 of what is now the Illegal Immigrants Trafficking Act 2000. The court held that no provision of the section was repugnant to the Constitution....

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage (Resumed). (30 Jan 2003)

Michael McDowell: The Senator is asking me to provide for an automatic right of appeal to the Supreme Court against a High Court decision. The answer is no because that would transfer the problem for another few months from one court to another. Almost all the applicants are legally aided. It costs them nothing to take a case but it costs the State in terms of paying for the applicant's lawyers and its own. It...

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage (Resumed). (30 Jan 2003)

Michael McDowell: This is a largely technical amendment. Its purpose is to restore to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform a power to prescribe the ports and airports at which non-nationals coming from a place outside the State can land. This is a matter of secondary legislation under the Aliens Act 1935 and worked effectively without controversy as part of the Aliens Order 1946, which was the...

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage (Resumed). (30 Jan 2003)

Michael McDowell: I agree with the spirit of this amendment but not with the amendment itself. The law relating to enactments dealing with non-nationals is capable of being restated under the Statute Law (Restatement) Act, which has recently come into operation. The effect of that Act is that where a particular statute has been amended or can be found in a number of places, from time to time the Attorney...